{"id":1503,"date":"2007-05-13T13:29:17","date_gmt":"2007-05-13T18:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/just-half-ass-it\/"},"modified":"2007-05-13T13:29:17","modified_gmt":"2007-05-13T18:29:17","slug":"just-half-ass-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/just-half-ass-it","title":{"rendered":"Just Half-Ass It"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was sitting in Boston’s South Station for an hour or so last week, and I found myself\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 transfixed by Reebok’s new ad Run Easy<\/a> campaign. Huge banners hung above the doors of the train station, bearing slogans that I found a little perplexing:<\/p>\n

Run to the beat of your own drummer. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Conversation is fuel. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the ride. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Why Hit the Wall? It hurts. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Why run till you can’t walk? Run Easy.<\/p>\n

What are you Just Doing? Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Congratulations. You can’t stand up. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

A 10-minute mile is just as far as a 6-minute mile. Run Easy.<\/p>\n

Did you beat your best time or just yourself? Run Easy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There were a couple of Boston-specific banners:<\/p>\n

Big Dig has set the pace. Run Easy Boston.<\/p>\n

The British aren’t coming. The British aren’t coming. Run Easy Boston.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I said, I was transfixed. Isn’t there a reason all sports-related marketing is aspirational? I can understand trying to subvert standard advertising tropes — those Sublymonal<\/a> ads can be pretty funny — but this just goes beyond the pale. Sure, you don’t want to tell people that they’ll win the Boston Marathon if they buy your sneakers, but telling them that it’s okay to slack off?<\/p>\n

In addition to these “Run Easy”s, each banner featured Reebok’s tagline beneath its logo: I Am What I Am<\/em>. Now, I appreciate coming up with a slogan that puts us all in mind of the Torah<\/a> and\/or the greatest performance-enhancing-substance-abuser<\/a> next to Barry Bonds, but in tandem with this campaign, it comes off as “Eh. Why bother? Running isn’t going to make me any better.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was sitting in Boston’s South Station for an hour or so last week, and I found myself\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 transfixed by Reebok’s new ad Run Easy campaign. Huge banners hung above the doors of the train station, bearing slogans that I found a little perplexing: Run to the beat of your own drummer. Run Easy. Conversation … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Just Half-Ass It”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,20,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-religion","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-of","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1672,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-sep-21-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Sep. 21, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"September 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"To my Jewish readers: have an easy fast. To my non-Jewish readers: be fast and easy. On with the show! Just for Tina: Australian architecture and ugliness. * * * Um, I was just gonna go with Wite-Out. * * * Michael Bierut (go buy his book) looks back at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1568986998","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":879,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/im-so-easy","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":1},"title":"I’m so easy","author":"Gil","date":"March 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Wedding"","block_context":{"text":"Wedding","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/wedding"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1123,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/big-easy","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":2},"title":"Big Easy","author":"Gil","date":"September 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of the Saints' return to New Orleans, I made a dirty martini for Amy with some \"Cajun infused olives\" that we picked up this weekend (Amy accented it with a little Tony Chachere's). If I didn't have this crazy work schedule this week -- big issue, our conference,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Orleans"","block_context":{"text":"New Orleans","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/new-orleans"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4728,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-11-2009","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 11, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"December 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a busy, hectic work-week, so bleary-eyed links await you, dear readers! Just click \"more\"! Good thing there's coffee! * * * Another Pevear & Volokhonsky interview! I'm so bizarrely easy to please! (I just wish more of their translations were available on the Kindle.) * * * I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4669,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-20-2009","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 20, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Who expected it? Another Friday dose of Unrequired Reading! Just click \"more\"! EIGHT GLASSES OF WINE A DAY?! * * * Best new NYC buildings of the decade? And you included the Hearst monstrosity? Sigh . . . * * * WSJ interview with Russian literature transators Richard Pevear and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"bsux.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/bsux.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/sacrifice","url_meta":{"origin":1503,"position":5},"title":"Sacrifice","author":"Gil","date":"April 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Pat Tillman used to be a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals. Entering his prime earning years (with a 3-year, $3.6 million contract offer on the table), he elected to quit football and join the U.S. Army. His brother also enlisted, and the two went through Rangers training.An ESPN article\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}